Housing Rights - The New Benchmarks for Housing Policy in Europe? (original) (raw)
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Housing rights and human rights
2005
Conclusions (a) Are there four parallel 'monitoring' systems and two courts for housing rights in Europe ? (b) Moving housing rights away from law? (c) Without a remedy there is no right 10 Appendix 1. Collective Complaints Protocol 95 Appendix 2. Draft Optional Protocol 99 Appendix 3. Draft International Convention on Housing Rights Appendix 4. General Comment No. 4. Right to Adequate Housing Appendix 5. General Comment No. 7. Right to Adequate Housing (Forced Evictions) Foreword The year 2005 will be remembered as a year when many tens of thousands of people became homeless as a result of natural disasters. Whether in SouthEast Asia, New Orleans or the recent tragedies in Paris, many questions have been raised in relation to the rights of these homeless households. Indeed, their chances of being re-housed in decent housing may largely be dictated by what housing rights they have. The responsibilities of States depends on the extent of such housing rights. It is also clear that the continued reliance on the private market to meet the housing needs of the most vulnerable in society has now become a global phenomenon. Therefore, the disengagement of many States from intervening directly in the housing market to meet the needs of vulnerable households has compounded the difficulties for many low-income people in gaining access to housing. This is the first time a detailed book has been produced on the issue of Housing Rights and Human Rights. As well as outlining the various legal instruments that are currently in place to advance housing rights, it also provides a critical analysis of such instruments, and how they have been used in different countries, particularly in the European Union. Whilst there has been much discussion in recent times on rights based approaches to housing, this book provides a clear explanation and critique of the issues involved. It also illuminates the complex and lengthy processes in the European Union in relation to social inclusion policies, demonstrating how homelessness has not yet been properly addressed. Access and rights to housing in many countries have never been accorded the same level of priority as access to other forms of social protection or health care. Yet, it could be argued that access to decent housing is fundamental to ensuring proper access to other social goods. On behalf of FEANTSA, I would like to express thanks to Dr. Padraic Kenna, Chair of the FEANTSA Expert Group on Housing Rights in providing his services on a voluntary basis to produce this publication, as well as the other members of the FEANTSA Expert Group on Housing Rights. This is an invaluable publication by FEANTSA in its continued campaign to advance the housing rights of homeless people.
Constructing 'Clear Violations' of Commodified Human Rights: The Case of the Right to Housing
Santa Clara Journal of International Law, 2020
The profitability of commodified housing is driving extreme levels of corporate investment. To boost profits investors are exploiting ‘undervalued’ low-income housing, evicting vulnerable individuals, hoarding land and charging exploitative fees. This is causing severe harm to individuals’ right to housing across the globe, including, inter alia, rapidly increasing prices and debt, increasing evictions, homelessness, and increased recourse to substandard accommodation. The harm is endemic, and the human rights response has been tepid. This paper argues that state obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are capable of addressing the problem. However, in communications with State Parties the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) addresses issues of commodification and affordability in vague terms that fail to generate meaningful obligations. The paper grounds the CESCR’s approach in theories of enforceability which argue that enforcement is more practicable when ‘clear violations’ can be established. The CESCR appears to follow this, offering clear statements of breach only when identifying explicitly wrongful practices, such as discriminatory laws. This approach, however, almost entirely occludes harm caused the marketization of human rights. It skeletonizes the ‘protect’ limb of state obligations, permits the long-term retrogression of affordability and enables the serious subsequent effects. The paper proposes that ‘clear violations’ can be constructed from the results of, and laws constituting, harmful marketization. A three-stage process of identification of breach, standard-setting, and policy suggestions is recommended that can turn the long-term retrogression of access to housing into specific, measurable statements of violations and recommendations. This same approach is advocated for business responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with the content of these responsibilities also evaluated.
The Right to Housing: from an International, European and Comparative Viewpoint
2019
Less than a year ago, a 55 years old elder man committed suicide when he was going to be evicted from her house in Cornella. He didn’t have enough money to pay the rent, and he didn’t have any alternative place to live on. Unfortunately, this case is not an exception, the platform for the protection of those affected by mortgages (PAH) deals every week with hundreds of cases of people who cannot afford to pay their mortgage. That seems contradictory if we take into account that the Spanish Constitution establishes the right to housing, and that the public authorities should promote that everyone has access to a decent habitation.
European Law Journal, 2019
The trend towards the financialisation of housing since the 1980s and the global financial crisis exposed a dramatic lacuna in the legal protection of the right to housing. Yet, the right to housing features not only in national and international human rights instruments, but also in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Charter rights are increasingly finding expression in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In particular, drawing on the Charter, the CJEU's interpretation of EU consumer law is moving towards a recognition of housing rights as inherent components of consumer protection. On the basis of such developments, this article examines whether there is scope to extend this human rights approach to new areas – namely, to the Mortgage Credit Directive (2014) – a major EU harmonising measure – and to the work of EU institutions now responsible for banking supervision. The article concludes that, if guided by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, t...
Human Rights and Human Development: earning from Those Who Act
2000
been extensively recognised in the framework of a wide range of international statements of law and policy in related fields, as distinct from human rights law and mechanisms. Housing rights provisions have been included within The Habitat Agenda (1996), Agenda 21 (1992), the UN Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976), the UN Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 (1988) and other texts. The UN Global Shelter Strategy captures the essence of housing rights in the following terms: the right to adequate housing is universally recognised by the community of nations...All nations without exception, have some form of obligation in the shelter sector, as exemplified by their creation of ministries or housing agencies, by their allocation of funds to the housing sector, and by their policies, programmes and projects....All citizens of all States, poor as they may be, have a right to expect their Governments to be concerned about their shelter needs, and to accept a fundamental obligation to protect and improve houses and neighbourhoods, rather than damage or destroy them.7 3. National Constitutions and Housing Rights National constitutions from all regions of the world and representing every major legal system, culture, level of development, religion and economic system specifically address State obligations relating to housing. Close to half of the world's Constitutions refer to general obligations within the housing sphere or specifically to the right to adequate housing. If human rights linked to and indispensable for the enjoyment of housing rights are considered (eg. the right to freedom of movement and to choose one's residence, the right to privacy and respect for the home, the right to equal treatment under the law, the right to human dignity, the right to security of the person, certain formulations of the right to property or the peaceful enjoyment of possessions, etc.), the overwhelming majority of constitutions make reference, at least implicitly, to housing rights. Constitutional clauses from a cross-section of countries reveal that national laws can and often do recognise and enshrine housing rights: Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing. The state must take reasonable progressive legislative and other measures to secure this right.(art. 26(1), South Africa) The State shall by law, and for the common good, undertake, in cooperation with the private sector, a continuing programme of urban land reform and housing which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas.(art. 13(9), Philippines) All Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing.(art. 47, Spain) Everyone has the right to enjoy a life in conformity with human dignity....These rights include, in particular, the right to adequate housing.(art. 23(3), Belgium)
Can housing rights be applied to modern housing systems?
International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 2010
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline and examine the growing corpus of housing rights and assess their relevance and applicability to complex contemporary housing systems across the world.Design/methodology/approachThe paper sets out the principal instruments and commentaries on housing rights developed by the United Nations, regional and other bodies. It assesses their relevance in the context of contemporary analysis of housing systems, organized and directed by networks of legal and other professionals within particular domains.FindingsHousing rights instruments are accepted by all States across the world at the level of international law, national constitutions and laws. The findings suggest that there are significant gaps in the international law conception and framework of housing rights, and indeed, human rights generally, which create major obstacles for the effective implementation of these rights. There is a preoccupation with one element of housing systems, that...